Audi says will continue to “massively” invest in combustion engines

German premium carmaker Audi, a VW subsidiary, will continue to invest heavily in the development of combustion engines. According to CEO Markus Duesmann, combustion engines will be "alive for a very long time," reports Frank Johannsen in Automobilwoche. "This is why we continue to invest massively in the development of combustion engines," Duesmann said, adding that the share of electric vehicles will rise significantly by the mid-2020s, but that combustion models will still make up 60 to 70 percent of the market. "And they must be top," Duesmann explained, adding that their emissions must be lowered. "Of course, we will continue to step on the gas regarding combustion engines," Duesmann said.

Like all major German carmakers, Audi was a late arrival in the electric car space. It doesn't have many emission-free vehicles on offer yet, but has various models in the pipeline. Audi’s parent group VW has embraced electric mobility more vigorously than any other major auto company in the wake of its “dieselgate” emissions scandal under CEO Herbert Diess, in a move hailed by green mobility advocates as a "game changer" for the industry. But VW's new brand chief Ralf Brandstätter recently appeared to play down the group’s transition to a full focus on electric vehicles when he said the company will continue to offer combustion models for “a long time.”